This is a linkpost for https://medium.com/@owenshen/the-ancient-god-who-rules-high-school-e0645b100ae6
There's a relationship between having regular habits and mental health, I believe. I can't prove it off the top of my head but you'll find similar ideas if you look into writing about for example keeping clean living-spaces, getting into the habit of dressing well, etc. and it aligns with my personal experiences. It seems to me the chief benefit is that forcing yourself to go through with things that aren't fun but which are necessary for living above the level of an animal acts like acid to the narcissistic patterns of thought that provoke people to convince themselves that they're too good for discipline.
There's a relationship between having regular habits and mental health
At the extremes, yes. If your habits are very very regular and you are very very attached to them, you might have OCD :-P
the chief benefit is that forcing yourself to go through with things that aren't fun but which are necessary for living above the level of an animal acts like acid to the narcissistic patterns of thought
That line of thought is well expressed in early Protestantism -- see e.g. the Puritans.